Story:Star Trek: Parthenon/Episode Three
Episode Three: Well Shit ' Captain’s Log November 14th, 2410 U.S.S. Parthenon Eva Reed, Commanding ' ' We’ve been stranded for three days, and finally main power is restored, but primary and secondary systems are still offline awaiting repairs. I’ve ordered that the hangar deck are prioritized, so that in case of attack we can at least get Viper Squadron in the air. Astrometrics and the sensor array are second on the list of things to get working, we need to find out where we’ve landed. We were supposed to travel just over two thousand light years, but none of the stars around us match that location. It’s likely that no one other than myself will ever hear these logs, but it feels wrong to not keep a log of what we are doing here. However, if someone does find their way across this log inform Starfleet Command of our fate. Reed out. ' ' Three Days Ago ' ' I came to, and found the bridge was pitch black. ' ' “Report!” I called out, but no one answered. ' ' “Report!” I called out again. ' ' I felt my way from where I landed to the center of the bridge. The ship was adrift, and main power was offline. The switch for emergency aux power for the bridge is on my chair, I felt around until finding it. The lights kicked on, lighting the bridge just enough to see. ' ' All of my bridge officers were scattered around the bridge. I saw Zylla crumpled up just shy of the helm pit. I walked over and tried to rouse her. ' ' “Commander,” I said. ' ' She stirred. ' ' “Wha.” ' ' “It would appear that Neytia’s calculation on our dropping out of warp was much less graceful than implied.” ' ' “Considering I woke up on the floor, that’s an understatement.” ' ' The bridge consoles whirred to life as the rest of the lights on the bridge flared into life. ' ' “Looks like auxiliary power is up for the rest of the ship.” ' ' “Bridge, come in,” Neytia said over the comm. ' ' I tapped my combadge, “Reed here.” ' ' “Bridge, come in,” Neytia repeated. ' ' “Combadges must be out,” I said walking over to the comm station. “Reed here.” ' ' “Captain, good. What’s it look like up there.” ' ' “We’ve got some minor injuries, but I don’t think anyone is too badly hurt. I need you to send out runners, get department damage and casualty reports to Zylla, and send out medical teams to all decks, but start with the lower decks.” ' ' “Right,” she replied. “What’s the condition outside?” ' ' “The viewscreen is online, but just barely. Can’t make out anything of consequence. We’ll need astrometrics to figure that out.” ' ' “Acknowledged. Engineering out.” ' ' The rest of the bridge crew began to come to. ' ' “Zylla, get everyone up, and at stations. Until we can get back to full power, and ascertain where we are, we maintain red alert.” ' ' “Yes, Captain.” ' ' “I’m going to head to our hangar, see if it’s bad down there. If we come under attack we’ll need those fighters for defence, so you have the bridge.” ' ' Zylla nodded, walking over to her station and activating red alert. ' ' I climbed into the Jefferies Tube, and climbed down to deck five. ' ' I made my way across the deck to the hangar control room. As I entered the control room, I saw the fighters all hovering above the surface, the force of re-entering local space, opened the hangar door enough to de-pressurize the hangar, and deactivated the mag-locks that hold the fighters down. ' ' “Alright, close the door, re-activate the mag-locks, then pressurize,” I said to myself. I walked over to the control panel, and checked the door status. ' ' “Looks like it opened a few inches,” I said tapping the console to close the door. ' ' I swiped through console options for a minute before finding the micro tractor beam and mag-lock controls. ' ' The hangar is equipped with several of them, one under each of the seven craft, as well as two for catching fighters that come in too hot, or damaged craft making an emergency landing. ' ' I engaged the seven underneath the six fighters and my shuttle to bring them back to the mag-locks, before securing them all. ' ' “Alright, just need to pressurize the bay,” I said swiping through options again. ' ' “There,” I said activating an option, vents opened on the wall next to the control room, and filled the hangar with oxygen. ' ' “I wonder,” I said to myself swiping through control systems until I found the launch systems. “Inoperable. That figures.” ' ' I walked to a comm console and activated it. ' ' “Reed to bridge, come in.” ' ' “Bridge here.” I heard the comm officer say. ' ' “Hangar is up and running, but launch systems need repair.” ' ' “I’ll inform engineering, but they are swamped right now.” ' ' “Inform Lieutenant Commander Neytia that hangar repairs are priority one. We need our fighters for defence.” ' ' “Yes, Captain,” she replied before the line cut out. ' ' I left the control room, and walked into the hangar, but as I made my way across to my shuttle, the artificial gravity went out. ' ' “Wonderful,” I said to myself. ' ' I reoriented myself and I reached the ceiling of the hangar, before aiming for my shuttle and pushed off. I glided down from the ceiling grabbing ahold of the shuttle when I got to it, and quickly entered it. ' ' I pressed a button on the dash. ' ' “Computer, begin pre-start sequence alpha. Open comm channel to Deck Six - Engineering.” ' ' “Beginning pre-start sequence,” the computer replied as the shuttle lit up. “Channel open.” ' ' “Engineering. Chief Reyes.” ' ' “Are you aware gravity just went out in the hangar.” ' ' “With the warp cores offline, there isn’t enough power for everything, so gravity is failing on most decks. Once we complete repairs everything will go back to normal, so just sit tight, and wait for orders from higher up.” ' ' “If I wait for orders from higher up, I’m going to be sitting here a while,” I said. ' ' There was a pause on the other side of the line, no doubt the chief checking source of transmission. ' ' “Sorry, Captain, I didn’t realize you were the one calling.” ' ' “I’ll overlook it this time, after all, I’m not exactly on the bridge. Reed out.” ' ' “Prestart sequence complete.” ' ' “Open hangar doors. Deploy manual flight column. Release mag-locks. Standby maneuvering thrusters.” ' ' The LCARs panel retracted and manual flight systems raised up to take their place. ' ' “Hangar doors opening. Mag-locks released.” ' ' There was a click underneath the shuttle as the doors opened to reveal the space outside them. ' ' “Maneuvering thrusters ready.” ' ' I took the controls and eased the shuttle out of the hangar. ' ' The pad stretched out ahead of the doors. The horizon was covered by a pinkish-purple haze that extended around on all sides. ' ' “What the hell is that,” I said to myself. “Open a channel to the bridge.” ' ' “Channel open.” ' ' “Zylla, do you read.” ' ' “Loud and clear, Captain.” ' ' “There’s something you need to see. Standby for transport.” ' ' I locked the thrusters to station keeping and walked to the back of the shuttle and activated its transporter. ' ' “Lock on to Commander Zylla Aslei.” ' ' “Locked.” ' ' “Ready here, Commander.” ' ' “Energize,” she said. ' ' A whir of light filled the shuttle. As the transport completed, I walked back over to the helm. ' ' Zylla sat down in the co-pilot seat and stared out of the window. ' ' “What the…?” ' ' “Yeah, that was my thought as well. According to the Noir’s sensors it surrounds this area of space.” ' ' “Looks like trouble from here.” ' ' “It may be responsible for slowing down the ship and messing up half the systems. Standby impulse engines.” ' ' The shuttle whirred. ' ' “Impulse power, standing by,” the computer said. “Scanners are only picking up a handful of constellations, and those are inside, whatever the hell this is.” ' ' “Is it within the realm of possibility that we could have entered another galaxy?” ' ' “Sure, but I wouldn't bet on it. We were at warp less than two minutes. Even at warp 50, it would take longer than that.” ' ' We completed a few orbits of the ship before returning to the pad. ' ' “We need to get back to the bridge. If we can get its sensors online it can tell us more,” I said. ' ' I touched the ship down on the pad, and the two of us beamed back to the bridge. ' ' Present Day ' ' Launch systems are finally operational, sensors are nearly online, and astrometrics are undergoing final repairs. ' ' “There!” Zenon said. “Sensors are operational, Captain.” ' ' “Good job. Get a full work up on the horizon, and keep an eye out for other ships.” ' ' “Captain, looks like all departments have finally gotten damage and casualty reports in. Security got hit hard. Three fatalities, including Chief Flores.” ' ' “Have Lieutenant Noah arrange services, but unless we figure this out, we’ll all join them.” ' ' “Captain, I’m detecting a ship approaching at high warp.” ' ' “Launch Viper Squadron to intercept. Weapons hold.” ' ' “Three Peregrines were already out on patrol, moving to intercept, the other three will join them in sixty seconds,” Six said. ' ' “Patch their comms in,” I said. ' ' “You all heard the Captain. Intercept ship, but do not fire unless hostile intent is clear,” Daniel said over the comm. ' ' “Roger,” the two other pilots replied. ' ' “Are our weapons operational yet?” ' ' “We have forward torpedo launchers one through four online, but guidance is out.” ' ' “Phasers?” ' ' “Still offline.” ' ' “Do we have thrusters?” “Maneuvering only.” ' ' “Vipers Four, Five, and Six have joined the others.” ' ' “It’s all on Viper Squadron then. Until we can make contact, assume hostile, but again do not fire.” ' ' “This is Viper One, closing on target.” ' ' “Viper One, hail the ship, give standard non-approach message,” Zylla said. ' ' “Wilco,” Daniel said. “Patching in UT, opening channel. Attention unidentified ship. Cut your engines, and do not approach the Parthenon further.” ' ' The ship responded, but the language was incomprehensible. ' ' “Zenon, get on that,” said. ' ' “Working. I’m adapting the UT, attempting to translate.” ' ' “Don’t worry, just the fate of two civilizations hang in the balance of that translation. No pressure,” I said. ' ' “The syntax is unlike anything else in the UT, I’m attempting to translate, but it may take a few minutes.” ' ' “Keep at it.” ' ' “I think I have it.” ' ' The ship repeated. ' ' “This is the Illcor ship Draullir. Scouts detected a derelict ship, and we came to aid.” ' ' “Viper Squadron, stand down, open the channel,” I said. “This is Captain Reed of the Federation starship Parthenon. We read you Draullir.” ' ''' “Vipers Four, Five, and Six, establish patrol formation. Vipers One, Two, and Three, escort the Draullir, then return to the hangar,” Zylla said.